Chris Koza: Stand Clear
Chris Koza: Stand Clear
Composer: Chris Koza
Lyricist: Chris Koza
Voicing: High Voice & Piano
Date: 2018
Duration: 4:15
About: A song about longing
Text / Lyrics
What you could do
and who you could be
this is your debut
opportunity
- the moment calls
The doors are open now stand clear!
Rush in for your world premiere!
this way that way no way move don’t move move it stop
last call last chance last word end of story, End of the line!
Hidden dreams
secret living things
thriving amidst the din
Waxing conviction
creeping in
strengthens and underpins
that what you see
just beyond your reach
is closer than you think
So hold the doors
make room for one more
cram in and don’t let go!
Surf the crowd
be tough, bold and loud
buck up and take control!
The rest of your life
is waiting for you to arrive.
It all starts with:
“Hello!”
-Chris Koza
Stand Clear
Take your pick
be anonymous
or muster up “hello”
Spinning through
this crazy machine
where people come and go
It’s okay
you may never say
a single word at all
The moments stall
leaving what you saw
there just beyond a wall.
The doors are closing now stand clear!
Hold them open or disappear
lost in words in headphone worlds
as bodies whirr parallel and perpendicular
sleepless and sleeping first stop last stop no stop
grab hold don’t touch don’t look be tough stay calm
be nice make friends have fun
Glide and screech
twisting, transferring
shaking underneath an immensity;
an atrocity
A marvel of ingenuity, persistence and scope;
and hope
Take your pick:
be innominate
or holler out, “Hello!”
At your stop
shuffle with the herd
(a) stairway to the top
beautiful and lurid,
the moment stalls
Source Notes
“Stand Clear” was commissioned as part of the 2018 Source SongBook, celebrating the festival’s 5th anniversary. It was premiered on August 5th, 2018 at Westminster Hall in Minneapolis, MN by Jacob Christopher, tenor & Mark Bilyeu, piano.
Performer Notes
I really enjoyed exploring these songs by Chris. His song-writing skills are so unique, and it was interesting working with him to translate his ideas into more accessible piano writing. Some liberties were taken with the printed score! -MB
Composer Info
Chris Koza is a composer and performer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Both solo and with his band Rogue Valley, he has supported and shared the stage with artists such as Brandi Carlile, Ingrid Michaelson, The Jayhawks, Neko Case, Kathleen Edwards, Dan Wilson, Stephen Kellogg, This is the Kit, and Tift Merrit, among others. His music appears regularly on ABC’s General Hospital and 60 Minutes, and his song Be Wild will be featured as the soundtrack to an upcoming State of Minnesota tourism campaign. His song (Rogue Valley) The Wolves and the Ravens was featured in Ben Stiller’s film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
The music Chris produces is rooted in Americana but heeds its own spirit. Born out of folk, country, storytelling and rock ’n roll, Chris both honors and builds on Americana traditions by incorporating a unique pop-music sensibility, subtle synthesizers, rich harmonies, and imaginative production choices. But despite late-night deep dives in the studio, Chris never strays from the core of the song itself and isn’t afraid to let a raw vocal and woodsy acoustic guitar deliver the story. Chris performs solo, as a duo, and with a band of almost any other configuration.